'Investors' Interest Paramount': Adani Withdraws FPO as Stocks Continue to Tank

Adani Group's stocks have seen unprecedented fluctuations after the release of the Hindenburg report.

Gautam Adani.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@salty_noulty)

Adani Enterprises on Wednesday, 1 February, called off the Rs 20,000 crore follow-on public offer (FPO) as its stocks witnessed fluctuations for a fifth day.

Later in the day, he released a video statement underlining that "interest of the investors was paramount."

Behind the news: The upset was triggered US short seller Hindeburg Research's report, which stirred up new allegations of stock market manipulation and money laundering against the billion-dollar conglomerate.

• On Wednesday, the stocks remained volatile, with Adani Total Gas and Adani Power in free fall, even as Adani Wilmar and Adani Ports and SEZ managed some recovery.

• Adani Enterprises, meanwhile, was down 1.12 percent at Rs 2,941.60 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Adani's statement: In a statement on Wednesday, the company said, "The Board of Adani Enterprises Ltd., (AEL) decided not to go-ahead with the fully subscribed Follow-on Public Offer (FPO). Given the unprecedented situation and the current market volatility the company aims to protect the interest of its investing community by returning the FPO proceeds and withdraws the completed transaction."

"Given these extraordinary circumstances, the Company’s board felt that going ahead with the issue would not be morally correct. The interest of the investors is paramount and hence to insulate them from any potential financial losses, the Board has decided not to go ahead with the FPO."

Gautam Adani

What experts say: In a report by Bloomberg, Ben Silverman, director of research at VerityData indicated that “it’s unusual for a secondary offering like this to be canceled," adding that "pulling an offering at the last minute doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence right now.”